We had a great adventure last night: a trip across town to the north end of Boston to have dinner with a very nice lady. We could have walked there in about an hour, but we took a car and it took us…more than an hour. The proverbial “Slow Boat to China” would have been faster.
We met Connie Pittman on our cruise. She’s a very nice, hard-working divorcee with a big heart who lives in the Boston area. The three of us cooked up the idea of going out to dinner together after the cruise: Charlie and I would “treat” if Connie would find us a nice place to go. Mangia, mangia…
Connie decided that the Little Italy neighborhood in Boston’s North End would be just the place. It’s a small area, with cobblestoned streets, 80 restaurants, and a dessert bakery called Mike’s Pastries. We HAD to go to Mike’s, for sure, said Connie.
Charlie and I probably could have walked to the North End in less than an hour; it’s maybe three miles. But, Connie offered to drive us, so we happily agreed. Unfortunately, Connie used her car’s GPS system to guide us, with destination “Mike’s Pastries”. Little did we all know that there are three Mike’s locations in Boston, and the GPS system took us to Harvard Square first, which is in the opposite direction. Anyway, by the time we figured it out, and rejiggered the GPS, it was an hour before we pulled into Little Italy.
No harm, no foul…it was an adventure…and we got to see just about every inch of the Boston area.
BTW, the street, highway, freeway, bridge, tunnel, etc. transportation network in Boston is a flippin’ nightmare, and…the weather was good. I can’t imagine it in the Winter.
The GPS system in the car, and in my phone, was totally messed up because of the tunnels and such, and changed its mind every ten seconds.
The road network, from above, must look like a large plate of spaghetti thrown on the ground. Driving in Los Angeles is a cakewalk in comparison.
Jackson Pollack would be proud; Henry Ford would be pissed.
We finally found Little Italy, and…it was worth it! A great selection of little Italian restaurants in a cozy neighborhood. It reminded me of the neighborhood in “The Godfather”, where Mike Corleone meets the cop and the goombah in the restaurant, gets the gun from the restroom, and blows the guys up when he comes back to the table.
Our little restaurant was jammed with a bar, closely packed tables, and a bunch of people enjoying very good food. (No gun above the loo, though.) It was just right. Kudos to Connie!
I had the veal parm, Charlie had a salmon/vodka sauce pasta, and Connie had some spicy sausage with bombo pasta.
That, of course, was proceeded with beverages, antipasto, and caprese salad. None of us finished our entrees…we were stuffed. Bene, bene…
We then trooped up the street to Mike’s Pastries…the correct one. It was a scene, with a mass of people in there, ordering from a large selection of goodies, to be taken out in small boxes.
Notice the sign just to right and below the blue thingy…CASH ONLY. Everything in this joint is $3 to $5. No receipts, just greenbacks going over that counter, at a rapid clip. I’ll bet the owner declares maybe twenty percent of the revenue that comes in. Wiseguys would love this place.
It was Disneyland for Fat People; absolutely nothing in the place was good for you, but…what the Hell! So, we bought two cannolis for Connie, two for ourselves, and a big fat eclair for Charlie and I to eat when we got back to the hotel. (As if we needed any more calories!)
After we said our goodbyes to Connie, Charlie and I caught a cab back to our hotel. With a professional driver, it took us 12 minutes.
But, it wasn’t as much fun, that’s for sure.